Below-par Hull City beaten at Charlton Athletic as play-off hopes fade

A sluggish, disjointed start from the Tigers saw them lose Eliot Matazo barely 10 minutes into his comeback and their poor opening was made worse when Semi Ajayi was easily dispossessed by Charlie Kelman, who angled in a stunning strike to give the hosts a deserved lead after 20 minutes.

John Egan's header in the seventh minute off added time at the end of a really poor first half dragged the Tigers kicking and screaming back on terms from Paddy McNair's deep corner.

Jayden Fevrier's fine strike with just over 20 minutes to go put the hosts back in front after more sitting off from the Tigers' back line, allowing him to find the bottom corner.

The Tigers boss, knowing he needed to force a result opted to bring back Eliot Matazo for the first time since he ruptured his ACL in Cardiff back in late February last year, a span of 424 days.

Matazo’s return saw him come straight back into midfield alongside John Lundstram, replacing Mo Belloumi, who felt his hamstring on Tuesday night at Leicester City, but was fit enough to be on the bench. Matt Crooks pushed further forward to play off Oli McBurnie, with Joe Gelhardt moved wide. There was no Yu Hirakawa in the squad, owing to a selection decision.

Liam Millar, on his return to his old stomping ground, was sent flying by a rash Collins Sichenje challenge and the Addicks full-back was booked early.

There were concerns inside five minutes when Matazo fell to the floor outside the Tigers box, with his colleagues immediately calling for help. After a nervy few minutes, the Belgian was back on the pitch on playing on, but it didn't look promising initially. Despite trying to soldier on, Matazo limped off and his comeback was over inside 10 minutes. On came McNair in his place.

A disjointed start did little to help City settle into the game, with the home side the dominant force. Greg Docherty's clever ball around the corner caught out John Egan, with Charlie Kelman cutting back for Conor Coady to force Ivor Pandur into a save, which he made hard work of.

Coyle was then booked for dragging down Kelman to stop a quick counter which epitomised City's really poor start, the whole team were miles off the pace. Sichenje was replaced by ex-City man Reece Burke before the break, with the visitors still labouring and failing to have an effort worthy of the name.

It looked like they would be heading into the break behind, until the hosts gave away a cheap corner and as we so often see, they were punished. Kaminski was booked for slowing down the taking of the kick and it actually helped.

From McNair's deep corner, Egan rose to head back across goal and over the line, confirmed by the referee's watch. It was a let-off and a wake-up call for the tepid Tigers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jakirovic took off Ajayi at the break with Belloumi on. That saw McNair drop back into the centre of defence, Crooks into midfield and Gelhardt behind McBurnie.

City were much better in the second period, with Belloumi carrying a threat. Gelhardt slammed into the side-netting as they poured forward in front of nearly 3,000 away fans in the Jimmy Seed Stand.

Sonny Carey was replaced by Luke Chambers with Tyreece Campbell on for Kibbs just after the hour, with Nathan Jones making his first changes of the afternoon, moments after Kaminski pushed away Belloumi's low effort.

Having not learned from the opening goal, City failed to clear and allowed Jayden Fevrier to get a shot away from the edge of the box, and find the bottom corner.

Jakirovic then made a double change, bringing on Regan Slater and Kyle Joseph for Millar and Gelhardt, before Lewis Koumas replaced Giles. City pushed for a way back into it, but in truth rarely did it look likely, and they have it all to do and need a favour from Coventry against Wrexham on Sunday.

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Charlton Athletic: Kaminski, Sichenje, Jones, Gillesphey, Clarke, Coady, Docherty (c), Fevrier, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman. Subs: Mannion, Burke, Chambers, Coventry, Rankin-Costello, Berry, Campbell, Leaburn, Dykes.

Hull City: Pandur, Giles, Egan, Ajayi, Coyle ©, Matazo, Lundstram, Crooks, Millar, Gelhardt, McBurnie: Subs: Phillips, Belloumi, Slater, Joseph, Koumas, Famewo, Hughes, McNair, Dowell.

Referee: Tom Nield

Attendance: 20,671 (2,783 from Hull City)

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